This was in response to the risk I took in predicting the Saints would win in my weekly picks column. Seahawks fans certainly have had their share of pain, Alyx, and that goes all the way back to the Jim Zorn and Dave Krieg days. Things sure are on the up and up now.

@Harrison_NFL Hey Harrison - I've read the book - Don't write an article that Smaug will take the Hobbit. Baggins wins.

I'll try not to screw that pick up like I did Saints-Seahawks. Although, if Bilbo fumbles at any point, I'm sure Bill Belichick will have him standing on the sidelines in street clothes. Or spying. Too soon?

It's never too soon to rank the rest of the member clubs. We know Seattle is No. 1, but take a look at the rest. Feel free to share your thoughts, or pain, at the usual place ... @Harrison_NFL.

What a statement game for
Pete Carroll and the
Seahawks, who dominated Monday night from stem to stern. David Lee Roth circa 1982 -- in all of his spastic glory -- couldn't compete with the Seattle head coach. Telling you right now, the
only team that would have a chance to beat Carroll's squad in Seattle is Carolina -- and even that might be a stretch.

Look out for Carolina, everybody. The
Panthers did what good teams are
supposed to do: take care of lesser opposition at home.
Beating the Bucs by three touchdowns certainly qualifies. The
Panthers' defense is going to make them a tough out. I don't care if the opposition is Seattle, New Orleans or
West Canaan, Carolina is going to represent a formidable challenge, because it doesn't rely on a high-risk, 60-throws-per-game offense to win. Oh, and before we go --
nice fourth-and-goal call, coach. #RiverboatRon

It's one thing to
lose a game in Seattle. It's wholly another to get beat play after play while failing to communicate or operate with any sense of urgency and looking completely lost on your assignments.

The
Saints' secondary proved that New Orleans has almost no hope of winning a
Super Bowl this season. That was as bad a performance as we've seen from a back seven. At one point, it looked as though
Russell Wilson was simply told to seek out
Malcolm Jenkins and let fly. What a butt-kicking.

The
Bengals moved a step closer to the AFC North crown and a home
playoff game. With the
Chiefs' loss, and Cincinnati's ownership of the tiebreaker over New England, the possibility of moving into the 2-hole becomes a very real one. The
Bengals'
remaining sked: vs.
Colts, at
Steelers, vs.
Vikings, vs.
Ravens. There is no reason Cincinnati can't finish 12-4 or 11-5. Oh, and by the way,
Mark McLemore was our favorite 2-hole hitter. You're welcome.

RANK

9

7-5CARDINALS

The
Cardinals couldn't overcome their own mistakes in
the loss to Philly: turnovers, receivers not being able to separate from physical coverage and repeated breakdowns in pass protection.
Carson Palmer missed several big throws for Arizona and was, quite frankly, outplayed by
Nick Foles.

Old St. Nick is at it again. We asked earlier in the season,
in this very space, why
Nick Foles couldn't be the guy -- and I was viewed as a crazy person for suggesting Foles get every opportunity to supplant
Michael Vick. That said, no one, including yours truly, imagined him scoring 21 total touchdowns with just one turnover (a fumble) this season. For a second-year pro to attempt nearly 200 passes without giving up an interception is incredible.

That said,
Alshon Jeffery made
the catch of the day, if not the year. How about his season? Talk about all over the map. Consider his weekly yardage totals since Week 5: 218, 27, 105, 60, 114, 83, 42, and 249.

RANK

16

6-6RAVENS

2

Big win for the still-viable
Ravens. For all their problems -- the exodus of veteran players, losing Dennis Pitta to injury, not being able to run the football -- they've quietly hung in there in both the AFC North and AFC wild-card races.

Call us crazy, but we thought
Matt Flynn would fare better
against the Lions than 10-for-20 passing with one interception and a 51.9 passer rating. Of course, Flynn's pocket shrank faster than all those dudes in 2008 who said there was no lending crisis.

RANK

18

5-7CHARGERS

1

The season might have slipped away from the
Chargersat Qualcomm. With losses
to Miamiand Tennessee, San Diego owns exactly zero tiebreakers against combatants for that sixth playoff seed in the AFC. And with a 3-6 conference record, the Bolts aren't sitting too pretty in
that tiebreaker area, either. Looking back on the season, the
Week 9 loss in Washington might have been the most disappointing. Considering the way Washington is currently playing, blowing it in overtime against that team might have been checkmate for
Mike McCoy's first foray in SoCal.

RANK

19

5-7TITANS

Tennessee gave Indy
all it could handle. But then, that's always the problem with the
Titans -- they do just enough to get their fan base pumped ... before letting everyone down like
another "Hangover" sequel.Ryan Fitzpatrick struggled mightily, while
Chris Johnson still can't get going. He came in averaging 3.8 yards per carry -- and gained exactly 3.8 yards per carry on Sunday. The
Titans can't play this brand of football for another year. Johnson isn't finding the 2009 magic again. Ever.

Say this about the
Giants: They don't fold their tents. Nor do they take their football and go home. Big Blue might ultimately be going nowhere, but
to come back from 14-zip, on the road, after playing like crap, in a season they'll be lucky to finish at 7-9? That says much about
Tom Coughlin and the character in the Mara family's organization.

RANK

22

5-7RAMS

The box score won't shoot you straight when it comes to
Rams-Niners. The final numbers were actually pretty close. Then you rewatch the NFC West battle
on Game Rewind and see that, other than a 10-play, 92-yard drive in garbage time, St. Louis couldn't accomplish anything offensively. In fact, 192 of the
Rams' 312 total yards came in the fourth quarter.

It was nice to see third-round draft pick
Stedman Bailey finally get involved. Everyone knows wide receiver has been the Achilles' heel of the
Rams' offense for years. If
Tavon Austin's former West Virginia teammate can take
a step forward, maybe this position group won't be the weak link. Let's see how December plays out.

RANK

23

5-7JETS

2

How much longer must
Jets fans suffer in watching their team's Headless Horseman offense? This organization hasn't had a good quarterback since Chad Pennington was playing. As frustrating as Pennington's career was, at least the frustrations stemmed from unfortunate injuries. Problems like a lack of composure and preparedness, sitting for GQ photo shoots and throwing the ball up for grabs are all of recent vintage. We wholeheartedly agree with
Rex Ryan, who said he felt sorry for the fans who had to endure
that beatdown on Sunday.

RANK

24

4-8BROWNS

Josh Gordon is simply unreal. Remember the talk of the
Redskins acquiring him? Just think: The NFL has been around for 93 years, keeping passing stats for 83 of those, and yet
no one -- not Jerry Rice, not Don Hutson, not Lance Alworth, not Randy Moss, not even T.O. -- has gone for
two bills in back-to-back games like
Gordon. Shoot, Brian Brennan never did it, either.

McGloin wasn't spectacular
in Dallas, but he gave his receivers chances to make plays on the ball, and he managed the game very well. Is he going to wow you like
Terrelle Pryor? No. Is Pryor just good enough to get you beat? Yes.

RANK

26

4-8BILLS

What a shame that the
Billsdropped another game they could've had. What was not a shame, however, was the way the 1-2 punch in the backfield finally produced.
C.J. Spiller was awesome, rushing for 149 yards on 15 carries, while
Fred Jackson put up 78 yards from scrimmage and scored twice.

This was the way it was always supposed to work for the 4-8
Bills. Spiller wasn't supposed to get dinged up and then all but disappear,
EJ Manuel wasn't supposed to miss four games, and a bunch of other bad things weren't supposed to happen. And oh yeah, they weren't supposed to be "the 4-8
Bills."

RANK

27

3-8-1VIKINGS

2

The only thing worse than the 15-yard facemask penalty by
Rhett Ellison that wiped
Blair Walsh's would-be winning kick off the board Sunday had to be
Matt Cassel's apparent mustache. That thing looks like it belongs in a mini truck.

It's time for the
Buccaneers to start evaluating everyone on the roster if they are to compete in the NFC South in 2014. New Orleans, which has the best quarterback in the division, is clearly still a force, Carolina is full of studs on defense and Atlanta will win a lot more than three games next year. Thus, Tampa must find out what it has now.

For the most part,
Mike Glennon has acquitted himself well, putting together a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 13:5 with a 90.3 passer rating -- though those numbers drop to 7:4 and 78.4 when a blitz is on. Thing is, those latter numbers will improve as the game slows down for him; i.e., this is totally normal. We like Glennon thus far. Whether he is the long-term answer is another question entirely.

Who was that wearing No. 84 in red and black and making plays in Toronto? Absent for much of the season -- even though he's been on the field --
Roddy White sure reintroduced himself. Heading into the matchup with the
Bills, White had not recorded more than four catches or crossed the
50-yard barrier in any game this season. On Sunday, White went off like it was 2010, notching 10 catches for 143 yards -- just 66 yards shy of his combined total from eight previous games. Good riddance to Atlanta's five-game skid. #riseup

RANK

32

2-10TEXANS

Any folks wondering if the head coach in Houston had lost the locker room
got their answer Sunday. The
Texans played inspired football, ultimately bested by a
Hall of Fame quarterback and one of the most clutch kickers of the past decade.

You'll hear much talk about
Gary Kubiak's future over the next few weeks. His fate is far less sealed than you'd imagine.